Bills, mortgages, bank statements, brokerage statements, credit card statements—being an adult certainly does require a lot of paperwork. Here is a guide for how long you should keep different kinds of financial records before putting them through the shredder (and yes, it should be the shredder, not the trash). Tax Documents: Keep tax-related records for […]
I know the stock market has been “up and down” the last few weeks, so I wanted you to think about something we have more control over, how we think about wealth. I think it is fair to say that most people think of wealth strictly in terms of money, the more the merrier. However, this one-dimensional […]
With tax season not quite in the rearview mirror, it seems like an opportune time to mention some takeaways from the changes brought about by the Tax Cut and Jobs Acts (TCJA) as well as revisit some tax-related topics. While it may be too late to make any significant changes to your 2018 return, it’s […]
According to the Cornell Law Dictionary, “A fiduciary duty is the highest standard of care.” It entails always acting in your client’s best interest. A few years ago, the question of whether your financial advisor was acting as a fiduciary was one of the top of questions asked of all financial advisors. This issue was […]
For many people the start of a new year is a chance to re-focus on things that are important to them, whether it is health, relationships or finances, a turning of the calendar means a fresh start. So as we prepare for a New Year, I wanted to share a personal story that challenges the […]
Recently, as part of “Walking with You on Your Journey,” we have begun a review of the beneficiaries on your accounts. We are doing this as a way of making sure your assets are distributed to whom you wish and in the most tax-efficient manner. Most people, if they are married, name each other as […]
On December 22, 2017, President Trump signed into law The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which was the most sweeping rewrite of the tax code in more than 30 years. While the provisions of this tax reform bill went into effect on January 1st of this year, most of the provisions affecting individuals are temporary […]
Contracts…lawyers love them, most people hate them. They are frequently filled with technical garbley-gook that most of us do not understand. They include fine print that people often feel set them up for no-win situations. However, there is one contract in particular that we believe you should be reading carefully, a retirement community agreement. Part […]
When we do retirement planning one question that often arises is whether or not you can count on Social Security being available when you retire. This concern arises each year when the Social Security trustee report is published and the media is looking for another catchy headline to grab “eyeballs” to the webpage or newspaper, […]
Is it political? Is it interest rates, or is it the weather?! While we have recently experienced high volatility, we have just come off of the longest period without a market downturn of 10 % or more. By the end of January of this year, the last six and a half years, have set a […]